Agricultural and Commercial Society. 99 
construction of light railways in England was retarded 
chiefly on account of the restrictions of the Board of Trade, 
by which high rates of speed were rendered necessary 
upon standard-gauge lines. The evidence given before 
the Commissioners appointed by Parliament, of which 
Mr. Bryce, M.P., was chairman, conclusively proved this. 
To be a success, light railways must be rid of all the 
traditions of the main lines, which are too extravagant 
for them. These restrictions were entirely removed by 
the passing of the Light Railways Act of 1897. The 
evidence given before the same Commission, and the 
proceedings of the International Railway Congress of 
1895, showed also that a great deal of the agricultural 
depression in England was due to the want of light 
railways to connect the agricultural districts to the 
main line. 
The Light Railways Bill of 1897 is a very liberal 
act which lias been very liberally interpreted by the 
" Light Railways" Commissioners, and a large number 
of schemes have been submitted and approved of. Since 
the passing of the Act, several light lines have been 
constructed, and I believe the first opened for traffic was 
the Lynton and Barnstaple, 19 J miles. It is laid with 
40 lbs. rails in the 2 ft. 6 in. gauge. The majority of 
Irish railways and the Festiniog in Wales, although 
narrow-gauge lines cannot strictly be considered light 
lines, and the fact of the former not proving a 
financial success is not due to their being narrow-gauge 
lines but to the fact they were constructed on too 
pretentious a scale and, as was suggested by Mr. Balfour 
during the discussion in Parliament on Mr. Bryce's Bill, 
to the incidence of fixed and management charges, or 
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